Bay Leaf Baptist Church Weekly Sermons

Bay Leaf Baptist Church
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Biblical teaching from Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC — a multi-campus church passionate about gospel-centered preaching, disciple-making, and mission. Tune in weekly for sermons that explore God’s Word and encourage you to follow Jesus in everyday life. Whether you’re part of our Falls Lake or 540 campus—or listening from afar—you’ll find truth, hope, and practical application from Scripture.

  1. 6d ago

    9-27-26 // First Things First: The Priority of Prayer in Gospel Ministry // 1 Timothy 2:1-7 // Why Must Prayer Come First?

    Drawing from 1 Timothy 2:1-7, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a pointed and convicting question: do we actually value prayer, or do we simply say we do? Much like a gym membership that never gets used, many believers confess the importance of prayer while their lives tell a different story. Paul's charge to Timothy — "first of all" — was not merely the beginning of a to-do list, but a declaration of priority. Prayer must come first because the work of gospel ministry is spiritual work, and no amount of human effort, strategy, or cleverness can tear down spiritual strongholds. As Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, "the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds." Timothy needed to armor up before stepping into Ephesus, and so do we. Pastor Jared then expands the content of faithful prayer, urging the church to pray not just for personal needs, but for the salvation of all kinds of people — neighbors, enemies, people of every nation, ethnicity, and political persuasion — because the gospel is radically inclusive in its audience even while it is exclusive in its claim. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:5). This truth gives us every reason to pray with confidence: God desires all people to be saved, and Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right now, interceding on our behalf. Prayer, then, is not where ministry ends — it is where ministry begins, fueling the proclamation that follows. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  2. Sep 21

    9-20-26 // Grateful for the Gospel // 1 Timothy 1:12-20 // Why Do We Need to Remember the Gospel?

    In this sermon drawn from 1 Timothy 1:12-21, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a tender illustration about whispering "Dad loves you" into his children's ears — not because they don't know it, but because he wants that truth pressed so deeply into their hearts that it carries them through their hardest moments. In the same way, Pastor Jared reminds us, the gospel is something we need to hear again and again — not because it changes, but because we do. Familiarity with the good news can breed a dangerous numbness, and when that happens, we must stop and let the eternal weight of this message sink in once more. Following Paul's gospel journey through the passage, Pastor Jared traces three movements: the gospel humbles us, the gospel moves us to worship, and the gospel commits us to faithful service. Paul, once a blasphemer and violent persecutor of the church, is arrested mid-letter by the memory of the mercy that found him. As 1 Timothy 1:15 declares, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." That remembrance doesn't pull Paul off course — it fuels everything he's about to charge Timothy to do. Pastor Jared closes with a call for the church to hold faith and a good conscience together, just as Paul charges Timothy in verse 19, because these two things build on one another. When they are separated — when belief drifts from behavior — faith is shipwrecked, as it was for Hymenaeus and Alexander. But when the gospel is kept before us, it keeps us humble, stirs us to worship, and commits us to waging the good warfare for the glory of God and the good of those around us who still need to hear that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  3. Sep 15

    9-13-26 // Entrusted with the Gospel // 1 Timothy 1:1-11; 3:15 // What Has the Church Been Entrusted With?

    Pastor Jared Richard launches a new series through 1 Timothy by grounding the church in a simple but weighty truth drawn from 1 Timothy 3:15 — that the church is "the household of God, a pillar and buttress of the truth." The local church, he argues, is not merely a gathering of people who enjoy one another's company. It is the place where the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, protected, and passed on. That is what makes the church irreplaceable, and that is what must be guarded with diligence. To make his case, Pastor Jared walks through 1 Timothy 1:1-11, where Paul writes to Timothy about a serious crisis in the church at Ephesus — false teaching. The false teachers were internal, intriguing, and yet ultimately empty of any godly power. Paul had warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28-31 that "fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock," and from among their own leadership no less. Now that warning had come to pass, and Paul's apostolic solution was faithful leadership — leaving Timothy behind to evaluate and restore the eldership so that the church could once again be a faithful witness to the gospel. Pastor Jared closes by reminding Bay Leaf that the reason all of this matters is the gospel promise of transformed lives. The gospel is the only message to which God has attached his transforming power. False teaching, whether it comes from a pulpit or a worship song laced with prosperity gospel theology, puts the burden back on the people and distracts them from the completed work of Christ. The aim of the charge, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:5, is "love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith" — and that kind of love only grows in soil that has been cultivated by the faithful, Spirit-empowered proclamation of the gospel. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  4. Sep 8

    9-6-26 // God's Heart for the Lost // Jonah 4 // Does Your Heart Reflect God's Heart for the Lost?

    Jonah 4 hits like a speed bump we didn't see coming. After the remarkable repentance of Nineveh in chapter three, we expect a celebration — but instead we find a rage-filled prophet shaking his fist at God. Pastor Patrick Austin unpacks the deep heart issue beneath Jonah's anger: Jonah believed that mercy should only be extended to those who are deserving of it. He despised the Ninevites, and rather than rejoicing that God's mercy had reached his greatest enemy, he wished he could die. Like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Jonah looked at the lost and said, they don't deserve this. But as Pastor Patrick reminds us, God shows mercy to the undeserving — and that includes every one of us. In the second scene of Jonah 4, God teaches Jonah an intentional, hands-on lesson. He appoints a plant to shade Jonah, and Jonah is exceedingly glad — the very same degree of gladness that mirrors his earlier rage. Then God appoints a worm to destroy the plant, and Jonah is devastated. The contrast is striking: Jonah pities a plant more than the people of Nineveh. But God's heart is the opposite. The Hebrew word for "pity" in Jonah 4:11 literally means to have tears in one's eyes, painting a picture of God weeping over the lost state of 120,000 souls. This same heart is seen in Luke 19, when Jesus wept over Jerusalem — broken over people who were missing the very source of life standing right in front of them. Pastor Patrick calls the church to answer the book's final, unanswered question: Should I not pity Nineveh? — and to let that question reshape our hearts. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  5. Sep 1

    8-30-26 // The Mercy of God and the Mission of the Church // Jonah 3:1-10 // Why Do We Go?

    Preaching from Jonah 3, Pastor Jared Richard opens with a striking observation — the greatest miracle in the book of Jonah may not be the great fish at all, but the repentance of Nineveh, one of the most wicked cities in the ancient world. Drawing on the deliberate literary parallels between Jonah 1 and Jonah 3, Pastor Jared shows that God's second call to Jonah is more than a plot device. It is a picture of mercy — the same mercy God has extended to all of His people, and the very reason we go to the lost. Just as God gave Jonah another chance to rise in obedience, He has given us, through new birth in Christ, not just a second chance but the Spirit-empowered ability to take advantage of it. From there, Pastor Jared turns to what we trust in as we go — the Word of God. He points out that from Jonah 3:5 forward, Jonah himself virtually disappears from the narrative, and it is the Word that does the work. Even with a divided heart, Jonah spoke what God gave him to say, and God used it mightily. Drawing on Philippians 1:15-18, Pastor Jared reminds the church that the mission of God does not depend on our eloquence, our apologetic skill, or even the perfect condition of our hearts — it depends on the faithful declaration of God's Word and trust in the power of His Spirit. Finally, the repentance of Nineveh — believing God, humbling themselves, crying out to Him, and turning from their evil ways — gives the church a clear and compelling picture of what Biblical repentance looks like. And because we carry a greater message than Jonah ever did, the incarnate Word of God Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, we go with even greater confidence and an even greater promise to offer the lost. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  6. Aug 25

    8-23-26 // A Song of Deliverance // Jonah 1:17-2:10 // Salvation Belongs to the Lord

    In this sermon on Jonah 2, Pastor Jared Richard draws a compelling parallel between Jonah and the prodigal son of Luke 15, calling Jonah "the prodigal prophet." Like the younger son who wanted the blessings of the father without the father himself, Jonah fled the presence of God, convinced that life in Tarshish would be better than obedience in Nineveh. But God, like the waiting father in the parable, graciously allowed Jonah to discover exactly where that road leads — not to freedom, but to death. Every step of Jonah's journey was downward: down to Joppa, down to the ship, down into the sea, down toward Sheol. And it is in that descent that God gets Jonah's attention, using the very real prospect of death to awaken the prophet to his desperate need for the only One who can truly save. Pastor Jared traces three movements in Jonah's journey — from life to death, from the ship to the fish, and from west to east — each one carrying a lesson God wants not just Jonah, but all of us, to learn. The fish was not a punishment; it was a rescue. And the three days Jonah spent inside it were not wasted — they were sanctifying, humbling the prophet and preparing him to embrace the mission he had been running from. Jonah's psalm ends with the declaration, "Salvation belongs to the Lord" (Jonah 2:9), a truth that cuts both ways: we cannot save ourselves, and we cannot withhold from others the grace that has been so freely given to us. Pastor Jared closes with a challenge to the church — having received the grace of God, will we now declare that same grace to the broken world around us? WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  7. Aug 18

    8-16-26 // A Sent People // Jonah 1:1-17 // Have We Received Mercy Without Sharing It?

    Pastor Jared Richard opens Bay Leaf Baptist Church's new series through the book of Jonah by grounding the entire story in who God has revealed himself to be — "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love" (Exodus 34:6-7). Against that backdrop, Jonah's shocking rebellion becomes all the more striking. Called by God to arise and go to Nineveh, the great and wicked Assyrian city, Jonah instead flees west toward Tarshish — as far from God's presence as he can get. His resistance is both personal and national: he fears for his life among a brutal enemy people, and he simply does not want God to show mercy to those he considers undeserving of it. Yet even in Jonah's running, God is relentlessly at work. He hurls a great storm upon the sea, and through a series of providential events, the pagan sailors end up hearing about the one true God, crying out to him, and worshiping him — the very thing Jonah was commissioned to bring about in Nineveh. Pastor Jared uses this irony to press a convicting question upon the congregation: are we, like Jonah, willing to receive God's mercy but reluctant to declare it to others? As those who have been rescued from the storm of God's judgment through the death of Christ — the greater Prophet who willingly offered himself and was thrown into the sea of condemnation so that our waves of judgment might cease — we have been commissioned by the Word himself in Matthew 28:18-20 to go and make disciples of all nations. The call to saturate North Raleigh with the gospel is not a program; it is obedience to the same commission Jonah tried to outrun. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

  8. Aug 11

    8-9-26 // The God Who Dwells With Us // Exodus 35-40 // What Does God’s Presence Mean for Us?

    Pastor Patrick Austin brings Leaf's journey through the Book of Exodus to a close with a message centered on Exodus 40:34–38, titled "The God Who Dwells With Us." From the very beginning of Exodus, God's people were suffering under the crushing weight of Egyptian slavery, crying out in darkness and despair. Yet as Pastor Austin reminds us, even then, "God heard. God remembered. God saw and God knew." God was never absent — He was always working to redeem His people, even when it didn't look like it. As the book draws to a close, the tabernacle is completed, and the question hanging over the people is a weighty one: after their rebellion and idol worship, will God still come and dwell among them? The answer comes swiftly and powerfully. The cloud covers the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle, and not even Moses can enter. God's presence is overwhelming, it is directive — guiding His people day by day, cloud by cloud, toward the promised land — and it is unceasing, remaining with them throughout all their journeys. Pastor Austin draws a straight line from the wilderness tabernacle to the person of Jesus Christ, who came to tabernacle among us (John 1), and to the Holy Spirit, who now dwells within every believer. The same glory that filled the tabernacle is the glory we see in Christ. And the same promise that God made to Israel — that He would dwell with them — is the promise Jesus makes to His disciples before ascending to heaven: "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." The sermon calls the church to be overwhelmed by that reality, directed by God's Spirit, and deeply grateful for a presence that will never end. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

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Biblical teaching from Bay Leaf Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC — a multi-campus church passionate about gospel-centered preaching, disciple-making, and mission. Tune in weekly for sermons that explore God’s Word and encourage you to follow Jesus in everyday life. Whether you’re part of our Falls Lake or 540 campus—or listening from afar—you’ll find truth, hope, and practical application from Scripture.

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